Allegations of Drug Trafficking by Pakistani Cricket Teams During India Tours

Serious Accusations Against Former Pakistani Cricketers

RVS Mani, a former under-secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs, has made serious allegations that Pakistani cricket teams and delegations have been involved in drug trafficking during their visits to India. He specifically named former cricketers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, both of whom were banned by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in 2006 after testing positive for the banned substance 'Nandrolone'. Following the PCB tribunal's decision, Akhtar received a two-year ban while Asif was suspended for one year. Their positive doping tests occurred in September 2006, leading to their removal from the Pakistan team just before a Champions Trophy match against Sri Lanka on October 17.

Mani, who served in the Home Ministry from 2006 to 2010, informed a news outlet that the cases of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif were reported to the Pakistani High Commissioner, who sent them back after they admitted to carrying drugs. He emphasized that this has been a consistent issue whenever Pakistani teams and delegations visited India.

He further claimed that sending drugs to India is part of Pakistan's official policy, stating that these individuals are well-known and high-profile. Other members of the Pakistani team were also involved, although their names may not have been disclosed. Mani connected the suspicious death of former Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer to his opposition to drug trafficking. Woolmer died under mysterious circumstances in Kingston, Jamaica, shortly after Pakistan's defeat to Ireland in the 2007 Cricket World Cup.

Mani pointed out that Woolmer, who opposed the drug trafficking by Pakistani players, died in suspicious conditions. He suggested that all these incidents should be viewed in context, asserting that Pakistani delegations brought drugs with them. According to estimates from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), around 30% of the funding for terrorist activities in India came from drug trafficking.